Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) is committed to providing news and the latest information to help prepare families, child care providers and policymakers as we closely monitor the situation around the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. To equip communities, CCAoA gathered resources to ensure the safety of all individuals. We are also interested in learning how Coronavirus has impacted your community. Your comments will help inform CCAoA and policymakers.

Center for Disease Control (CDC): Schools and Childcare Programs – Checklist for Teachers and Parents

These helpful checklists help you protect yourself, your students, and families by practicing and promoting healthy habits during the school year. Use these checklists to plan and take action if a COVID-19 outbreak occurs in your community.

Most of us are not prepared for the impact of COVID-19. While we may have heard tips to mitigate the spread, you may be scrambling to figure out the many other details that will impact your program’s business. It’s time to take a deeper dive into all aspects of disaster preparedness including policies and procedures, health considerations, and the long term consequences of possible program closures. View this urgent and important webinar presented by Julie Looper Coats and Jessica Rose-Malm from Child Care Aware of America to organize your thinking and planning. Child Care business expert, Tom Copeland will also help you begin to plan how to handle tuition and subsidies, obligations to staff members, insurance (or lack thereof) and many other consequences.

Yesterday VECF hosted a briefing on Virginia’s recently released child care guidance with state agency officials. Click here to listen to the recording of the call, including important questions from providers across Virginia. As we all adapt and respond to the new reality of COVID-19 as best we can, VECF is committed to persevering with our ongoing efforts to support communities, providers, children, families as well as our state partners and will communicate consistently and fully as needed updates and changes unfold. To receive notices about upcoming calls, please send your contact information to valerie@vecf.org.

Voices for Virginia’s Children: Advocating for Virginia’s Children During COVID-19

Our world has turned on a dime over the last week. COVID-19 has impacted the way we work, our social interactions and put many families in financial risk. As we gain our footing in these uncertain times, it’s important that we create stability and a path forward for Virginia’s children.

This week, our policy team has been working with state and federal officials in their response to COVID-19. We are pleased some solutions have already been put in place and anticipate more actions to follow. This is what we are doing to address many of these new challenges with policy solutions:

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION: We called on the Governor to provide more clearguidance for child care providers and for Congress to include the childcare sector in a stimulus package. While the Governor provided additional guidance on Wednesday, we are concerned that it does not address payment of childcare subsidy when closed.

FOSTER CARE:Voices convened the Foster Care Policy Network to create a shared policy agenda. The members have responded to call on the state to provide some additional flexibility for children and families in the foster care system during this time.

MENTAL HEALTH: While much of the focus on mental health is reducing the anxiety of children and caregivers during this time of uncertainty, Virginia’s Medicaid office has been hard at work to ensure that children continue to have access to the services they need. Yesterday, Virginia’s Medicaid office released guidance to families and health providers about temporary changes to the Medicaid program. Notably, co-pays have been eliminated for Medicaid and FAMIS services and many behavioral health services will be available through telehealth.

We understand that these are challenging times and there is a considerable amount of conflicting information at this time. Gryphon House is partnering with the preparedness experts at the Institute for Childhood Preparedness to offer this special edWebinar, designed to help cut through the noise and provide you with the essential information you need as an early childhood professional. Gryphon House author, Andrew Roszak, provides the latest updates and information designed to help keep you safe.

This recorded edWebinar will be of benefit to preK teachers, librarians, childcare providers, and school and district leaders.

On March 31, the Virginia Department of Social Services and the Virginia Department of Education released revised guidance for emergency child care during the statewide school closure in response to COVID-19. This revised guidance provides additional clarification for public schools considering providing emergency child care services for essential personnel during this time.

The Department of Social Services and the Department of Education are working closely together in this effort to identify emergency child care solutions for essential workers during the pandemic. The Commonwealth’s Chief School Readiness Officer, Jenna Conway, is coordinating state efforts on this matter.

The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) is closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and all guidance that is being distributed to child care facilities at the federal level. VDSS recognizes that it will be very challenging for programs to remain open, given the circumstances and federal and state mandates. This is unprecedented and we are most concerned about the health and safety of families in your programs, staff, and the other individuals who come into contact with children from your program.

For programs that remain open, we encourage you to adapt your service settings as much as possible to align with public health recommendations, which include social distancing. Review the FAQ’s below.

LENA has gathered resources and information about indoor play. With shelter-in-place orders in place for most of the country, it’s likely that the caregivers you serve are spending more time than usual inside with their children. Here are a few ideas for how to talk with infants and toddlers during indoor playtime:

Toddler — #2. Comment on what they’re doing or looking at: When your toddler is playing with their toys, join in on the fun. For example, if dinosaurs are popular with your children, try commenting on their make-believe dino adventures to serve up loads of fun. “Your triceratops looks very fierce, how many horns does he have? Where does he find food?”

Infant — #1.Talk about what you’re doing and thinking: Take a tour of the house/yard. Put your infant in a carrier or carry them in your arms and take a walk around. Look at pictures on the walls and talk about who you see. Walk from window to window and see what’s outside. Go outside and talk about the plants, animals, cars, people, etc. that you see.

NCTSN: Helping Children with Traumatic Separation or Traumatic Grief Related to COVID-19

This resource offers information on how to talk with children about traumatic separation or traumatic grief as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in thousands of children being separated from loved ones who require isolation and/or hospitalization due to a loved one testing positive for COVID-19 or because of potential exposure for essential workers. This tip sheet is for caregivers or other adults supporting children with traumatic separation or traumatic grief related to COVID-19. Especially in stressful times, in addition to the suggestions here, all children benefit from caregivers listening to and validating their different feelings.

The Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University: COVID-19 Resources

What Is COVID-19? And How Does It Relate to Child Development?: This infographic from the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child explains the basics of what COVID-19 is, and what it can mean for stress levels in both children and the adults who care for them. It also offers some easy and concrete solutions to help caregivers ensure that both they and the children they care for don’t experience long-term effects of stress.

Level 1: Forms

Contact Information

Request for VA ITSN On-Site Services

The Virginia Infant & Toddler Specialist Network on-site services include individualized consultation, targeted training, classroom-focused mentoring, and feedback as well as resources and materials related to increasing the quality of care provided to infants and toddlers.